


Someday this war will end

by MandoGab



Series: I'll show you the stars [one-shots] [5]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: After 07x12, Ahsoka Tano Needs a Hug, Ahsoka Tano must say goodbye, Anakin Skywalker is a Darth Vader, Angst, CT-7567 | Rex Needs a Hug, Episode: s07e12 Victory and Death, F/M, Sad Ending, Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 7 Spoilers, TCW AU, Too many tears, alternative ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:14:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24594370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MandoGab/pseuds/MandoGab
Summary: CT-7567 didn't kill a Jedi according to the order 66.Ahsoka Tano survived.Ahsoka and Rex have to say goodbye.During TCW 7x12
Relationships: CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano
Series: I'll show you the stars [one-shots] [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1699936
Comments: 3
Kudos: 30





	Someday this war will end

There was no farewell speech or salvo from rifles. They replaced the unnecessary words with silence when they buried the bodies of soldiers together. Ahsoka did not know them all by name, she could even say that she did not know the majority, and yet she said goodbye to everyone with the sound of a breaking heart. This was not how the war would end. Not so brutally.

Rex thought similarly when he covered his brothers' bodies with ground. His hands trembled as he put on his helmets. He tried to remain serious and calm, but inside he was trembling with pain. Ahsoka knew how hard it is to just accept reality.

Leaving the Jedi Order taught her independence and prepared her for similar situations, but now it was completely different. Each time was different. She wasn't ready for this sight or for the emotions that appeared in the blink of an eye.

"Ahsoka?" Rex's soft voice pierced the air, heavy with still rising smoke.

"We have to leave," she said softly. The words broke as she spoke them out loud. She felt that they suddenly lost their relevance.

"I know."

Words could hurt.

This one, almost whispered, caused the present to strike once again with all her strength. Ahsoka shuddered, as if she still believed in her heart that Rex would deny her. And yet they both saw it and they were both not ready for reality. They didn't know how to deal with another, much more painful farewell, but they couldn't stay here, and they certainly couldn't stay together. They have to hide somewhere, keep their "death" secret long enough to be forgotten. 

"Rex, I..."

She thought it would be easier for her, that the words would simply flow by themselves. But they stuck in a clenched throat.

"It was an honor to serve under your orders, Commander Tano."

_"Who's this youngling?"  
"I'm Master's Skywalker padawan. The name's Ahsoka Tano."_

Rex knew in his heart that this young padawan had completely changed his view of the war, the reality they both experienced. He remembered individual missions when she and Anakin Skywalker risked her own life in the name of the Republic. She fought like a soldier to save lives, to end conflicts that had been going on for years, to make the galaxy free from violence. In her heart, she must have known that not everything she wanted was possible, but he did not know anyone more determined. Maybe except Anakin.

_"As a Jedi we were trained to be keepers of the peace, not soldiers.  
But all I've been since I was a padawan is a soldier."  
"I've known no other way. Gives as clones all a mixed feeling about a war.  
Many people wish it never happened but without it we wouldn't exist."  
"Well, then perhaps some good has come from all of it.  
The Republic couldn't have asked for better soldiers.  
Nor I, a better **friend**."_

  


Ahsoka smiled slightly at her friend.  
She ceased to belong to the Great Army of Republic, leaving the Jedi Order. She wondered many times about this decision. She had days when she wanted to come back. She was afraid of a "normal" life, however that it would look. It took some time to learn to live on your own terms, without the support of the Council, without Anakin Skywalker, and without the Force, that was still alive in her.

"I'm not a commander anymore, Rex," she said quietly. He smiled but didn't answer.

_"Glad to have you back, commander."  
"Rex, thank you but you don't have you call me commander anymore."  
"Sure thing... commander."_

Rex looked up, looking around.  
The dust floated in the air before falling to the ground and showing a terrifying view. A cemetery stretched out before them. Buried in the ground of bodies hid a secret that would never see the light of day.  
CT-7567 didn't kill a Jedi according to the order 66.  
Ahsoka Tano survived.

_"Rex, are you okay?"  
"Yeah, yeah kid. I'm okay."_

Ahsoka would never think of clones as enemies. She knew many from the very beginning, since she joined the 501st Legion as Anakin Skywalker's padawan. They were her friends. In a way, she treated them like brothers, and Rex in particular.  
When she left the Order, she could not forgive herself for such selfish abandonment of all who meant so much to her. She didn't have a chance to say goodbye.

Ahsoka Tano couldn't forget.  
She spent almost all her life in the Jedi Order, at the beginning as a youngling, learning from the older masters, and then becoming a padawan. She believed in the Jedi, trusted them, and yet that faith slowly began to blur. Being outside the Order, traveling through Coruscant's lower levels she met a completely different side, a different perspective.

The idealistic world suddenly ceased to exist.

Ahsoka Tano wasn't indestructible.  
Tears gathered under her eyelids, which she didn't let go of. She only stared at Vanator's remains, gazed at the graves of the soldiers, holding back the scream that ripped her heart apart. She was calm and fragile.

"We should move," Rex said softly.

It cost them so much to take a step forward, without going back to the past, without blaming themselves for everything that happened in front of them. Only remains remained.

__

"Rex," she whispered.

__

His hand dropped calmly on her shoulder and a quiet sigh came from her mouth. He said nothing, absorbed in his own thoughts. Ahsoka felt his pain, fear and depression. She felt chill and the unimaginable emptiness from nowhere. She felt her inside falling apart piece by piece.  
She didn't feel... the bond she always had with Anakin. She didn't feel the presence of other Jedi.  
She was alone, against all the evil she saw in a split second.

__

"We'll make it, kid," he said quietly, giving her a soft smile.

__

Ahsoka was almost sure of it. Not once did they come out of risky actions, barely escaping life. Each time, however, they had the support of friends. Now... they were all alone.  
They both once had a home, but were deprived of it at once, relying only on themselves. They did not know where their fate would take, but it was certain that their paths would now separate. 

__

Ahsoka Tano couldn't live without war.  
She would not be able to return to her home planet and inhabit her, completely forgetting what she had experienced since she was taken to the Jedi Temple at the age of three. At only fourteen, she was assigned to Anakin, from whom she was to learn not only the techniques or tricks that the Jedi knights used. Obi-Wan Kenobi's padawan was like a big brother to her, he passed her knowledge through experience, through missions that they had together.

__

__

_"When I was out there, alone, all I had was your training and the lessons you taught me.  
Because of you I did survive. [...]"  
"I don't know what to say."  
"I do. Thank you, M a s t e r.  
"You're welcome, my padawan."_

Rex didn't have a home.  
As a clone, he was born on Kamino along with the rest of his brothers. After completing the training, he was assigned to General Anakin Skywalker and has been serving alongside him ever since. He appointed him Commander so that Rex could command the siege of Mandalore by the Republic. He did not always agree with his general, but regardless of his own thoughts he was completely obedient and devoted to Anakin.

"It's time," she whispered. Rex nodded. He turned toward the ship and started forward. Somehow he knew that she needed a few moments alone, so he did not hurry her or say any more words. He just walked on, leaving the past behind. Ahsoka needed a little more time to do the same.

__

__

_"You're reckless, little one. You never would have made it as a Obi-Wan's padawan.  
But you might make it as mine."_

"I managed... Master?"

She said the words so softly that they were drowned out by the gentle wind. Ahsoka was not in the habit of showing weakness, tears did not shine in her eyes. This time was different. She wanted to give up. A few seconds without hope allowed them to make a decision.  
She drew her lightsaber, looking at him for a moment.

__

This sword is my life, she thought.  
A life that is gone.

__

The lightsaber was heavy on her hand, and even though she was very familiar with it, she couldn't (or didn't want to) stop him. She felt emotions flowing through her. Sadness, regret, pain, fear, powerlessness, hopelessness, loneliness...  
The saber fell from her hand, dropping lightly into the dust-covered ground with a soft thud. She turned and walked away. She did what was necessary.  
She wasn't padawan anymore, she wasn't a Jedi anymore, she wasn't even sure she was herself.

__

Her whole world fell... in a moment.

__

__

*******

"Ahsoka," Rex began, looking at the girl with pain in his eyes and in his heart. He wasn't ready, but he knew that it would never be time to say goodbye. Not after he lost so many brothers. Now he was going to lose his younger sister...

"We can't wait any longer, Rex. In the end someone will come across us. We'll miss our chance,” she said, though the words hurt her.

__

"I know, I just... I don't know what I want to say to you. You are my friend, Ahsoka. You are like a family, like a little sister... I... I just can't imagine living without you by my side. It will be such a terrible life, kid," he replied, and Ahsoka laughed, feeling tears welling up under her eyelids.

__

"We've already lost a lot, Rex, but we will manage. As always, and someday... someday we may meet again as completely new people."

__

"We're new now," he said, and she nodded. Nothing will ever be the same, they will not be the same.

__

"We survived the war, Rex," she said quietly. "It's over."

__

"You think so?" He asked in a similar tone. She looked at him, warning tears in his eyes. She was one of the few people before whom this tough soldier showed such intimate emotions as pain and fear. "It will all stay with us forever. We will not be able to free ourselves from these demons of the past."

__

__

_"In my life, when you find people who need your help, you help them, no matter what."_

Ahsoka came closer, wrapping her arms around him. She felt their bodies tremble, complement each other in mutual despair and suffering, how they interact with each other in pain that was reserved only for them. In his arms she felt fragile and tiny, not ready to leave.

She closed her eyes as his ship soared into the air.  
He left her on one side of the galaxy to go in the opposite direction. And although it was a hard parting, they both knew there was no other way.

__

Ahsoka Tano will never forget.  
About her friends, older brothers, teachers, people who sacrificed their lives and gave their most precious gift. A gift that she will use to the best of her ability.  
Learn to live from the beginning in a whole new world. And the Force?

__

__

_The Force be with You.  
Always._

__

__  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
